Cardiff City continued a winning start to Phase Two of the Adran Premier with a 6–1 victory over Wrexham at The Rock.
Eliza Collie's hat-trick, along with Rhianne Oakley's brace and Molly Kehoe's goal, secured all three points for the Bluebirds.
Head coach Iain Darbyshire made one change to the side that defeated Aberystwyth Town last weekend, with the captain Siobhan Walsh returning to the starting XI.
City forced the first chance in the opening five minutes, as midfielder Seren Watkins found Kehoe free on the left, who cut inside in the area, but couldn’t quite get a shot away. The hosts replied with an opportunity of their own, but Emma Beynon produced a brilliant tackle to clear the danger.
A swift team move saw Darbyshire’s side take the lead in the 10th minute through Collie, who turned home from close-range after a great piece of composure on the right from Oakley. Wrexham responded from the penalty spot, with Hughes equalising four minutes later.
City reacted admirably to the hosts’ leveller, going back ahead in the 17th minute. A free-kick from Ffion Price found Oakley at the back post, who headed home to get on the scoresheet in back-to-back matches. Just before the break, the Bluebirds went close to adding a third through Watkins’ dangerous delivery into the box, which Kehoe couldn’t quite convert.
In the second half, City immediately searched for a third goal and found it in the 54th minute. After threatening in the first half, Kehoe netted her eighth league goal of the season with a right-footed effort past goalkeeper Charlotte Bolland.
The victory was ensured in the 77th minute, as some great work from Collie saw City win the ball back, allowing Oakley to lift the ball over Bolland with a brilliant finish. Five minutes later, Collie netted her second goal of the afternoon, firing clinically home from inside the area. The Bluebirds striker added another late on, finding the net from close-range to secure her hat-trick.
The Bluebirds’ next fixture is an away clash against Aberystwyth Town at Park Avenue on Sunday, March 24th, 2pm KO.
FINAL SCORE: WREXHAM AFC WOMEN 1-6 CARDIFF CITY WOMEN
Wrexham: Bolland, Allen ©, Fuller (Lovett 70’), Davies (Mackenzie 78’), Pritchard, C Jones, L Jones, Gibbard, Cairns, Lightfoot (Small 78’), Hughes (Suckley 70’). Subs not used: Ankers.
Cardiff City: Chamberlain, Owen (Cook 55’), Power, S Walsh © (Bowen 78’), Smith, Price, Beynon (Adams 78’), Watkins, Oakley, Collie, Kehoe (Walklett 63’). Subs not used: Phelps.
After the full-time whistle, we caught up with head coach Darbyshire.
"I was delighted for Eliza, Rhianne and Molly today. For our front three to all be on the scoresheet, it's great for us and something we can build on going into some important games coming up. We've worked on a few things and it was great to see that come off today. The girls have worked really hard to implement the system that we wanted to play and we're delighted that it's resulted in another win.
"Credit to Wrexham, they kept fighting right up until the last minute. They were physical and competitive, but I thought we just showed a bit of extra quality when we needed to during the game. It wasn't a perfect performance for us, there are still things we can work on, but we'll go into next week's game against Aberystwyth with a lot of confidence."